Chapter 297 Extra Thirteen (Wang Xiuren)
"Dad, do you and Mom want to go to Hong Kong City for some fun?"
At the dinner table, Wang Shan suddenly put down her chopsticks and asked.
"Just ask your mother," Wang Xiuren pouted, "I'll listen to her."
Wang Shan laughed and teased, "Dad, why do I find that you seem to listen to my mom on everything? Do you trust my mom so much?"
"That's a must!" Wang Xiuren said cheerfully, "I can have the good life I have now thanks to your mother."
"You are right. If it weren't for me, you would probably still be working in the fields as tired as an old ox. How could you enjoy yourself like now!" Lin Qiu also continued with a smile.
"Isn't it my good fortune that I met you?" Wang Xiuren looked at Lin Qiu tenderly, "It shows that God loves simple people."
"Dad, how do you know my mom?" Wang Shan looked at her father with bright eyes, hoping to hear some gossip between him and her mother.
"Blind date!" Wang Xiuren blurted out, "In those days, most couples in the countryside met through blind dates."
"That's not right. Isn't it important to be well-matched in blind dates? Your grandfather's family is so well-off, why would the matchmaker introduce you to my mother? I remember you said that the conditions in your hometown were not good." Wang Shan expressed the doubts in her mind.
Wang Xiuren glared at his daughter in anger, "How can you talk like that? Do you still think I'm not worthy of your mother?"
Wang Shan was so glared at that she smiled at him flatteringly, "No, I'm just a little curious."
Wang Xiuren looked away at his daughter's laughter. "To be honest, I also felt strange at the time. Your grandfather's family is so well-off and your mother has craftsmanship. How could anyone want to match us up? And the key is that your grandfather and your mother chose me, a poor boy who was not loved by my father and mother."
Lin Qiu helped to explain, "Why else? Your grandpa thought your father had good character and a good craft. Plus, your grandparents had a good reputation outside, so he married me to him. Who knew..."
Although Lin Qiu didn't finish his words, Wang Shan immediately understood what he meant. "Is Dad's family living in poverty?"
"Poor conditions are one thing, but your grandparents' style of doing things, tsk tsk... let your dad tell you."
Although his parents-in-law had passed away for many years, Lin Qiu didn't want to comment on what they had done.
Wang Xiuren felt sorry for Lin Qiu when he thought of the past. He sighed, "You know, Dad is the second oldest among four brothers. Your uncle is the eldest son, and your grandfather values him. Your uncle is the youngest son, and your grandmother favors him. Your uncle and I are stuck in the middle, and neither our father nor our mother loves us. Your uncle is a little better than me, he is smart, sweet-talking and capable, but I, your father, am just a poor little thing..."
Talking about these past events, Wang Xiuren found that he still had some resentment in his heart.
He knew from a young age that he was disliked by his parents.
When eating at the same table, his older brother and younger brother had some rice grains in their bowls, but his bowl was full of sweet potatoes or radish tops. Before he could even open his mouth, his mother would shut him up by saying, "Your brother is growing up, and your younger brother is still young." As a result, until now, when he sees sweet potatoes and radish tops on the table, he never picks up his chopsticks because he is really afraid of eating them.
The clothes, shoes and socks he wore were all picked up from the eldest brother's leftovers. Although the custom at that time was "three years new, three years old, and three years of mending", he was not blind and could not see that his younger brothers would buy new clothes every two years.
The same thing happened with studying. My eldest brother failed the entrance exam to technical secondary school, so his parents made him repeat the year for three years. When he failed the first year and wanted to repeat the year, his father directly refused, saying, "There's no money at home."
Even when it came to learning a craft, his elder and younger brothers were all paid by their parents to become apprentices of a master craftsman, but he was the only one who learned from the eldest brother who had just graduated. If he hadn't studied hard and asked questions himself, he probably wouldn't have been able to learn the craft.
At first he thought that his parents disliked him because he was not likable. Later he realized that no matter how obedient he was, it was useless because his parents had always been partial to him.
"But fortunately, I met your mother. She didn't mind that my family was poor, nor did she care that my parents were partial to me. She resolutely married me." Wang Xiuren looked at Lin Qiu with gratitude in his eyes.
"I didn't know your parents could be so partial, otherwise, I wouldn't have come to your house." Lin Qiu couldn't help but say, "Shanshan, you don't know that the day after I married your father, your grandparents shouted that they wanted to separate the family."
"Then what did they give you?" Wang Shan continued to ask.
"We were given a debt of several hundred yuan and two side rooms!" Lin Qiu was very angry. "Your grandmother said that it was a debt owed by your father and me for our marriage, and she wanted us to pay it back. The money that your grandfather brought me was used to pay off the debt before it even got warm."
"Ah? I thought the house in our hometown was given to our family by our grandparents." Wang Shan never expected that her grandparents would be as awesome as described in novels. It turns out that art comes from life.
"What are you thinking! Your father and I emptied our savings and borrowed a lot of money from your grandfather to build that house." Lin Qiu rolled his eyes at his daughter. "I almost divorced your father to build this house."
"ah?"
In Wang Shan's memory, the relationship between her parents has always been very good, and it is completely unimaginable that they almost divorced.
"Your father wanted to lend the family money to your uncle to build a house, but I refused, and then we had a quarrel. At that time, I thought that if your father insisted on lending the money, I would take you and divorce him."
Lin Qiu was still a little angry when he thought about it. "Your father didn't have any brains at that time. He didn't think about the fact that my mother and I were still living in two cramped and small side rooms. When it was windy and rainy, the house would leak. He only thought about the deep love between brothers."
Wang Xiuren was embarrassed by Lin Qiu's words, "Didn't I not lend the money out in the end?"
"If I hadn't refused, do you think you could have withstood your parents' persuasion?" Lin Qiu didn't give Wang Xiuren any face. "Don't you think about it? If we don't build a house, can we save the money? Your parents will definitely find ways to take the money away."
Wang Xiuren didn't say anything. He knew that based on his parents' personalities, they could really do this.
After listening to her parents' stories, Wang Shan was deeply moved.
She understood the hardships they had gone through. At the same time, she also realized that the complexity of family relationships and the entanglements of family affection are not as simple as they seem on the surface.
"Fortunately the house has been built, otherwise we would have no place to stay when we return to our hometown." Wang Shan smiled to liven up the atmosphere.
"That's right. They all said that we didn't need to build this house at that time, and it has been empty for many years. But they didn't think about the fact that having a house there means we don't have to live in someone else's house and become homeless when we go back." No matter how much Lin Qiu dislikes his hometown, it is his roots after all.
People should not forget their roots.
Wang Xiuren also nodded in agreement, "Your mother is still far-sighted!"
Wang Xiuren said this sincerely.
"I think you have a long-term vision." Wang Shan looked at him seriously.
Wang Xiuren waved his hands and joked, "The longest-term vision I've ever had in my life was when I listened to your mother."
"Have you ever questioned my mother?" Wang Shan asked.
"Of course not?" Wang Xiuren said frankly, "When she insisted on coming to Pengcheng, I thought about staying in Pengcheng for two months before going to Fo City."
"Why?"
"Because I was working in Fo City before, I am completely unfamiliar with Pengcheng. Plus, I have to bring you two, mother and daughter, with me. I'm afraid I won't be able to find a job and you two will starve." Wang Xiuren finds it incredible when he thinks about it now.
Why did you agree at that time?
"Are we in the right place, Pengcheng?" Lin Qiu raised his eyebrows and smiled.
"Your vision is never wrong!" Wang Xiuren complimented, "We met our first benefactor on the train to Pengcheng."
"I know, it's Uncle Zhao and Aunt Guixiang!" Wang Shan had heard her mother talk about this.
"That's right. Your Uncle Zhao was sitting opposite us at the time, and he spoke to us very enthusiastically. Your mother thought they were bad guys, so she only spoke half the truth." Wang Xiuren laughed at Lin Qiu.
"I'm being cautious. You go get the hot water, and I'll be holding Shanshan alone, so I have to be careful! What if I get cheated? There were so many swindlers and kidnappers in those days." Lin Qiu was so excited that he choked on his saliva.
"Speak slowly, I didn't say you did anything wrong." Wang Xiuren poured her a glass of water and handed it to her. "If I hadn't met your Uncle Zhao on the train, I wouldn't have been able to gain a foothold in Pengcheng so smoothly."
Wang Xiuren really felt that Pengcheng was his blessed land, and on the way here he met the noble man Zhao Dalong.
Not only did he help me find a rental house smoothly, he also introduced me to Man Ge's construction site, and I successfully stayed and worked with Man Ge.
Brother Man can be considered as his second benefactor.
At first, I stayed here for the sake of Brother Zhao. Then, seeing that I had good skills, I slowly learned a lot of knowledge about the construction site. It was he who lent me the money to buy the house in Jinxiu Garden. It can be said that he really treated me like a brother.
"Are Uncle Zhao and Aunt Zhao still in the capital helping Brother Xiaomin take care of his children?" Wang Shan hadn't seen these two elders for a long time.
"No, they went back to their hometown two years ago." Wang Xiuren has been in contact with them. "Your uncle Zhao couldn't get used to living in the capital, so when his grandson started elementary school, he took your aunt Zhao back to his hometown."
"Where is Brother Man?" Lin Qiu asked.
"Brother Man is just like us, traveling back and forth between his hometown and Pengcheng." Wang Xiuren now makes plans to play with these old friends when he has nothing to do.
"Why haven't I seen Ah Xing come to see you during this period? I made appointments with Ah Yun several times, but she always said she was busy."
"The landlord's aunt seems to be feeling better now. The couple is staying with her in the hospital!"
Speaking of this, Wang Xiuren couldn't help but sigh. The elders around him left one after another in the past two years.
"Then we have to find time to go and take a look tomorrow," Lin Qiu suggested.
After so many years of friendship, the two families have become like relatives.
"Okay, I'll go there after breakfast tomorrow."
"Is Brother Ahao still in the army?" Wang Shan was curious.
"Yeah, I didn't expect this kid to stay in the army for so long."
No one expected that a top student like Huang Jiahao from a prestigious university would eventually choose to join the army.
"I really admire him!" Wang Shan couldn't help but give a thumbs up.
"It's really amazing!" Lin Qiu also praised, "But it's just that his major life event makes Ayun very worried."
"There's no point in being anxious about this kind of thing. When the time comes, it will work out naturally." Wang Xiuren consoled him, "Just like your mom and I, we met through a blind date."
"That was a special period for us. It's different now." Lin Qiu shook his head. "I watched Ah Hao grow up. He is excellent in all aspects, except for the matter of marriage. Sigh..."
"Mom, maybe the destiny of Brother Ahao is on the way." Wang Shan said with a smile.
"I hope so!" Lin Qiu also smiled, "I hope he can find his other half sooner."
"By the way, let me tell you a little gossip. Why has the relationship between you, Mom and Dad, always been so good?" Wang Shan looked at her parents curiously.
Lin Qiu thought for a moment, then looked at Wang Xiuren and slowly spoke, "Between your father and I, to use today's words, we got married first and fell in love later."
She paused and continued, "In the first few years, especially when we came to Pengcheng, we had some unpleasant experiences. Of course, there were also some economic reasons. After all, a poor couple has many sorrows. But as our economic conditions improved, and we got used to each other, we gradually learned to tolerate and understand each other, and our relationship got better and better."
After listening carefully to his wife's words, Wang Xiuren continued, "I am different from your mother. Since I decided to marry your mother, I have been thinking about growing old with her. When your mother first asked me for a divorce, I knew that if I didn't change, she would really leave. So, I tried to look at the problem from her perspective, and then I found that your mother's vision and knowledge are much better than mine."
"Of course, love and marriage need to be managed." Wang Xiuren said earnestly, "In our time, we didn't have the freedom to fall in love like you do now. Many marriages were arranged, but as long as we managed them carefully, we could be happy, just like me and your mother."
"Times are changing, but some things never change." Lin Qiu said softly, "For example, sincerity, kindness and responsibility, these are the cornerstones of maintaining a relationship."
Wang Shan nodded thoughtfully. She realized that love is not just about romance under the moon and flowers, but also about the perseverance to stick together through thick and thin.
Wang Shan deeply felt the sincerity and depth of her parents' love. She secretly made up her mind to manage her own feelings as carefully as her parents did.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
Wang Shan opened the door and saw Yan Shen standing at the door holding Xiaoyueliang, holding a bouquet of flowers in his hand.
"Mom and Dad!" Yan Shen greeted them with a smile and handed the flowers to Wang Shan. "I just passed by the flower shop when I came back from picking up Xiaoyue, and I thought you might like it."
"I like it very much, thank you!" Wang Shan took the flowers with a happy smile on her face.
She looked at her parents hand in hand and couldn't help but think that she, like them, had also found a good marriage.
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